Princeton Summer Theater Closes Its Season with a Modern American Classic – Fifth Of July
Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by PNN Editor in Arts, Theater, University
Princeton Summer Theater closes its 2010 season with a poignant and hilarious story of family, friendship and second chances – Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July.
At the height of midsummer, the family and friends of Vietnam veteran Kenneth Talley gather to remember his dead uncle – but the gathering soon devolves into battles for property, custody, and domestic survival. As old rivalries are reignited and past loves rekindled, Lanford Wilson’s Tony-nominated serio-comedy takes us into the heart of what ‘family’ means.
Kenneth Talley’s head is pounding, his house is strewn with the detritus of last night’s party, and noisy reminders of a long decade of regrets, excesses, hopes unrealized and dreams deferred have come calling for the long weekend. The hippie waxing poetic about eskimos and the 13-year old drama queen in an evening gown aren’t helping his hangover either. In Fifth of July, Lanford Wilson captures the coming-of-age for the flower power generation left with the consequences of Vietnam and free love. Gently comic and deeply probing, this classic of the modern American stage canon is told “with the boundless empathy that is Mr. Wilson’s hallmark as a dramatist” (The New York Times.)
Featuring long-time PST favorites and Princeton University graduates Heather May, Shawn Fennell and Veronica Siverd as they take their final bow on a Princeton stage. They join the talented Rebecca Foresman (Heidi, The Heidi Chronicles), playing Aunt Sally, and Andy Linz (The Man, The Turn of the Screw), Ken’s charming but avaricious childhood friend. Brown MFA student Tyler Weaks (Peter Patrone, The Heidi Chronicles) stars as Kenneth Talley. Directed by Australian import Kip Williams of the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.
Fifth of July by Lanford Wilson. Opens Thursday, August 5th. Performances August 5th – 8th, and 12th – 15th. Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 pm. Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm. In the historic Hamilton Murray Theater on Princeton University Campus.
Princeton Summer Theater operates out of the Hamilton Murray Theater, Murray Dodge Hall, in Princeton University. The box office can be reached at (609) 258-7062 Tuesday-Friday from 9:30am-5:30pm and Saturday-Sunday from 9:30am-1:30pm. Princeton Summer Theater is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. PST has been completely student-run since 1968 and strives to bring affordable world-class theater to our community.